This invention relates generally to devices and methods for cutting food products, such as vegetable products, and particularly such as raw potatoes and the like, into spiral or helical shaped pieces, whose cut surfaces may be patterned by the design of knife blades, such as to create textured “crinkle-cut” spiral or helical pieces.
Production cutting systems and related knife fixtures are useful for cutting vegetable products such as raw potatoes into spiral or helical shaped pieces, preparatory to further production processing steps such as blanching and parfrying. In this regard, one typical production system comprises a hydraulic cutting system wherein a so-called water knife fixture is mounted along the length of an elongated tubular conduit. A pumping device is provided to entrain the vegetable product such as raw potatoes within a propelling water flume for cutting engagement with knife blades of the water knife fixture. The vegetable product is pumped one at a time in single file succession into and through the water conduit with a velocity and sufficient kinetic energy to carry the vegetable product through a relatively complex knife fixture which includes at least one rotary cutting blade for severing the product into a plurality of smaller pieces of generally spiral or helical shape. The cut pieces are then carried further through a discharge conduit for appropriate subsequent processing, including cooking or blanching, parfrying, freezing and packaging steps, for subsequent finish processing and serving to customers as loops, twirls, curly fries, etc.
Examples of such hydraulic cutting systems and related rotary knife fixtures are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,168,784; 5,179,881; 5,277,546; 5,343,791; 5,394,780; 5,394,793; 5,473,967; 5,992,287; and Re. 38,149, all of which are incorporated by reference herein. Persons skilled in the art will recognize and appreciate that mechanical production feed systems may be employed in lieu of hydraulic feed systems, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,097,735; 5,167,177; 5,167,178; and 5,293,803, which are also incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention is directed to an improved rotary knife fixture and related cutting blades for cutting raw vegetable products, such as potatoes, into spiral shaped pieces that may or may not have textured cut surfaces, such as crinkles, waves, or other designs.